1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for reducing the fat content of blood and in particular to an apparatus for reducing the fat content of pericardial suction blood.
2. Description of background Art
Extra corporeal circuits are regularly used during surgery and in particular for open heart surgery and are controlled by a Perfusionist. Venous blood bypasses the heart in one such circuit and is reintroduced into an artery in a patient's body after it has been oxygenated. Pericardial blood is also removed from the surgical site and is combined with the venous blood, oxygenated and subsequently reintroduced into the patient's body. One of the remaining problems associated with cardiac surgery is post-operative neurological dysfunction. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) operations have been linked with micro embolisms in the small arteries of the brain, known as SCADS. The embolic material found in the arteries is believed to contain liquid fat from the pericardial suction blood which is reintroduced into the patients body after collection.
A number of solutions have been proposed to overcome this problem. One such solution is to wash the pericardial suction blood, however this technique is relatively expensive and time consuming. Another solution is filtration, a technique that can be inefficient due to the difficulties associated with filtration of fat in liquid phase. A third solution is to avoid re-transfusion of the pericardial suction blood. This solution adds known problems associated with an increased use of allogeneic blood, such as immunological modulation.